Friday, March 2

The Weekly Shtikle - Tetzaveh

Considering the close proximity of Purim to Shabbos, I figured I'd revive an old shtikle from Tetzaveh, courtesty of R' Elie Wolf:

As part of the process of producing the priestly vestements, pasuk 28:40 commands "Velivnei Aharon ta'ase kutanos", and for the sons of Aharon you shall make tunics. This can be interpreted in two ways - one tunic for each Kohein or many tunics for each Kohein. This is the subject of a dispute in the Yerushalmi Yoma (Perek 3 Halachah 6). Rabanan hold two tunics for each Kohen and R' Yose holds one tunic for each Kohein suffices.

In the gemara in Megilla 7a Rav Yosef learns that when it says in Megillas Esther "matanos la'evyonim" it means 2 total matanos for 2 evyonim - only one for each poor person. Turei Even in Chagiga and Avnei Shoham in Megilla (same author) comment that this gemara goes like R' Yose in the Yerushalmi who holds one tunic for each Kohein. However, asks Mitzpe Eisan in Megilla, from Tosafos in Chagiga (3a) we see that the halachah in regards to the dipute in the Yerushalmi is like the Rabanan - two tunics for each Kohein. If Rav Yosef in Megilla is going only according to R' Yose then it is not in accordance with halachah.

Mitzpe Eisan answers from Pri Chadash (Orach Chaim 694) who writes that if the pasuk had written "vela'evyonim matanos" then it would have implied two to each but now that it says it the other way around it only means one to each. Therefore, the rule is that if the subject is written before the object then it may imply that to these subjects you will give objects to each. That then is the subject of dispute in Yerushalmi where the pasuk in question is "Velivnei Aharon ta'ase kutanos", the subject coming before the object. However, with Matanos la'evyonim where the object comes first, it means that these objects shall be distributed amongst the following subjects and everyone will agree that it is one per person. [This also explains why the gemara in Yoma entertains the possibility that there were two lots on each goat in the Yom Kippur procedure because the pasuk is "al shnei haseirim goralos" the subject before the object.]